Local organizations can submit applications through May 12th to be reviewed by the club’s grant committee. Award winners are scheduled to be announced by the end of May.  Interested organizations can download the application, submission instructions, and grant guidelines at https://forms.gle/HdBEXgndCmtsCqZQ6

“Our club has awarded grants to local groups; including Maywood Fine Arts, Best of Proviso, Housing Forward, The Answer, Inc., School Health Coalition, Real Foods Collective, Way Back Inn, DLD For Youth, Neighbors of Maywood Community Org (NOMCO), Maywood Youth Mentoring, Proviso Partners For Health, and the St. Eulalia Quinn Center", said Dr. Susan Flannagan, Club Treasurer.

The Rotary Club of Maywood-Proviso has been supporting area and global charities for over 100 years. Grants typically run from $250.00 - $2,000.00 per organization, but allocation decisions are made by our entire club and are not necessarily predictable."

If you have questions about the grant program or decision-making process, you may contact this year's grant committee chairperson, Andre Pate at 773-491-5251. 

About Rotary: Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world's most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.4 million members of more than 46,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Rotary members throughout the world develop and implement sustainable, community-driven projects that fight disease, promote peace, provide clean water, support education, save mothers and children, grow local economies and protect the environment. More than US $5.5 billion has been awarded through The Rotary Foundation—Rotary’s charitable arm that helps clubs work together to perform meaningful, impactful service—to support these and other initiatives over the last 100 years. For more information, visit Rotary.org.

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• Karen Yarbrough, Cook County Clerk
• Anna Valencia, City of Chicago Clerk 
• Melissa Conyers-Ervin, City of Chicago Treasurer
• Alexis Giannoulias, IL Secretary of State - Organ and Tissue Donor Program
• Community Blood Center
• Rotary Club of Maywood Proviso

For More Information Contact: 
Robin L. Staggers
Special Assistant to the Cook County Clerk - Community Affairs
118 North Clark Street, Suite 230, Chicago, IL  60602
robin.staggers@cookcountyil.gov
(312) 603-3974 

Since 1993, the Chicago Standdown has assisted those veterans who are less fortunate and experiencing homelessness – and this year they are looking for new or clean and gently used men’s winter coats (Sizes L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, and 4XL).  

Coats will be accepted through Friday, October 21st with collection boxes located at 118 N. Clark Street, Room 120 and 69 W. Washington, 5th Floor.  

All donated coats will be given out at the Chicago Standdown on Friday, October 28th at the Kedzie Armory (Illinois National Guard Northwest Armory, 1551 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60651).  

Questions can be directed to Brian Cross (brian.cross@cookcountyil.gov) or 312-603-5788. 

Thank you for your participation! 

Xavier Ramey is an award-winning social strategist, noted public speaker, and conflict mediator. Combining his background in economics, extensive management & social impact experience, and direct action campaigning in the Black Lives Matter movement, Xavier leads a company that brings a wealth of experience and network to clients seeking catalyzed strategies for inclusion, philanthropy, CSR, and community engagement. Xavier has consulted with institutions across the world on their DEI and has delivered keynotes across the world, including on the TedX stage as well as audiences of 20,000 people alongside world leaders on the topic of global equity.

Xavier served as the lead of the Social Innovation and Philanthropy strategy in the University of Chicago's Office of Civic Engagement, managed multi-million dollar philanthropic portfolios to stimulate employment through the United Way of Metro Chicago, & worked as a nonprofit Director of Development in Chicago’s North Lawndale community. Xavier is a founding member of the #LetUsBreathe Collective, an artist-activist organization committed to addressing state and police violence against people of color.

He is a board member of Young Chicago Authors, the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology, and a member of the Rotary Club of Maywood-Proviso in Rotary International. Xavier recently talked with the Chicago Defender about the power of the millennial perspective and what it means to be a catalyst for change:

Arika Linton/CD: What is the misconception that comes with leading an organization as a millennial of color?
Xavier: We aren’t bosses, we are leaders. Bosses take the first cut, leaders take the first hit. However, I am very sensitive to the challenges and needs of my millennial peers working in industries with tiny margins and high costs. My ask is that people be more sensitive to the needs of leaders of color, rather than comparing them or shaming them for not producing what Whiteness has been shown to more likely produce in terms of financial revenues and profits. People are working with a little to care for a lot.

Arika Linton/CD: What can you share regarding your company’s mission and impact?
Xavier: Our mission at Justice Informed is to “change the face of expertise” to inform the social impact consulting sector by leveraging the definitions, needs, ambitions, and ideals of people who hold minoritized or marginalized identities. Growing a powerful team of consultants, ensuring they have meaningful compensation and professional opportunities, and ensuring the pace of social change moves at the speed of our ambitions rather than the speed of the fears of people who are racial, gender, or otherwise fragile is our mission at JI.

Arika Linton/CD: Why is it important that your actions are backed by your words?
Xavier: My father, Paul Ramey, was a west side Precinct Captain, community organizer, and entrepreneur who also led a social impact consulting firm before he passed away. He used to tell me that you’re not truly from a city unless they see you walking that city and that you’re not from a neighborhood unless they see you walking that neighborhood. I believe that the embodiment of social justice and social impact is far more important than just valuing social change. Words matter. People who want the outcome of racial equity don’t necessarily believe in the pace many Black and Brown people are fighting for. We need people, especially allies, who believe something enough that they do something about what is happening to all of us.

Arika Linton/CD: What is your hope for Black men that operate at executive levels?
Xavier: I think that Black men are in a very interesting, but challenging position. We are wrapped up in dealing with the challenges of racial and economic inequity, while navigating historical expectations for financial and cultural production, in a space where gender and sexuality are continually being considered. Increasingly, the conversation around safe and empowered Black masculinity and what it means to be a Black man in America is one that is nebulous at best.

Our colleagues, partners, friends, and the media assume what should/could/might bring us joy. But there is a little collective conversation that meaningfully includes us. And so given that struggle and that lack of definition and ownership over their very identity, I would say that for Black men in America my hope is that they step into the powerful work of imagining and self-defining who they are and what we need to be for this next age. We must create what Black maleness means for ourselves, our communities, and our companies in the future. And this includes not just cisgender heterosexual Black men. This specifically includes queer and trans-Black men as well. ~ - Content Curated By MG Media